Kitchen Solvers of Roswell gave Susan and Steve Taylor and brand new kitchen.

Steve Taylor, 63, and Susan Taylor, 52, recently remodeled their Marietta, Ga., kitchen with the help of Kitchen Solvers of Roswell, Ga., owned by Art Mancino. After 26 years in the home, they were eager to give their kitchen a makeover, but they weren’t sure where to begin until they talked to Art.

How did you find out about Kitchen Solvers? My wife saw an ad in the Atlanta paper for a home show in downtown Atlanta, and we went to it and saw various vendors. Art was there manning a booth and we spoke with him. He was very knowledgeable about the kitchen and the remodeling process, and we decided we wanted to talk with him further.

What didn’t you like about your old kitchen? The cabinets were pretty beat up, to be honest with you. They’d been there 30 years and had gotten beat up on the exterior. Art looked at them with us, and there were some areas under the sink where some chemicals had leaked and eaten away at the wood underneath, so we decided to do new cabinets. The vinyl flooring was original, too, and had started to crack and peel. It was way overdue.

What did you have done? We had all new cabinets put in, new granite countertops put in and new flooring put in. We also replaced the vinyl flooring in the laundry room and in a half bath and a pantry area. We used to have a wet bar that we didn’t use, and we converted that into a pantry. We also have a half bath downstairs, and we put in a new vanity that matches the new cabinets.

Did Kitchen Solvers save you money? I can’t say for sure. We talked to two other companies that turned out to be more general contractor types. We were focused on the kitchen, and they said they would call out their guy to do that, and they didn’t seem to be as in-depth into the kitchen business and didn’t want to get into too much detail and talk about the project as much as Art did. We liked what Art was telling us, and liked that he had so much knowledge and would frequently think of things that we hadn’t thought of. After working with him, we’d like to hire him to do even more.

Another view of the Taylors’ new kitchen.

How did Kitchen Solvers help with the remodeling process? Art offered right off the bat to do a computer-assisted design of what the kitchen would look like after it was finished. Once we saw that, that really made us feel more comfortable about what we were doing. When we talked to Art, he kept bringing up things that we hadn’t thought about: Allow for this, measure for that — it really impressed us. We felt like we needed some hand holding, and for us, he was the one to do that. I’m not a handyman and we had more of a comfort feeling dealing with Art. He knew what he was talking about and what to look out for. For instance, one of our appliances is a new stove that was wedged into its space in the old kitchen. He saw that and adjusted measurements to leave a little extra space. He did the same thing with the fridge, so that it wasn’t so impossibly tight against the cabinets. It was very obvious that he delved into the details and took care of things that we didn’t even know to ask.

Is there anything you really enjoy that Art recommended? We had a new built-in microwave to install, and he recommended bringing the cabinets forward so that the microwave wouldn’t poke out, which would have looked odd. He also brought the cabinets forward over the refrigerator, which gave us more storage space. He also recommended that for one of the doorways coming into kitchen, we might want to consider just taking that door off because it gives more of an open look. And we’re really glad we made that change. Another thing he recommended was about one of the countertops on one side, which had a small overhang and a couple of bar stools. He suggested a bigger overhang, which gives you more space to sit there on the bar stools and also gives us more countertop when we have family over for a big meal.

How was the installation? Art’s son Tommy was the one who did the actual installation, with another guy assisting him, and I was very impressed with Tommy. He was a very polite young man. Anything we asked he was very responsive. He was very neat, and would clean up each day and let us know when he’d be there and when he was leaving.

The entire remodel took about three weeks, but that also included having an electrician come out twice and having a plumber come out twice.

Would you recommend Kitchen Solvers? We’d definitely recommend them. A lady that lives a couple of blocks away in our subdivision walked over one day while Tommy was outside and I think he was going over to talk to her about cabinet refacing. She hasn’t called us, but if she does, I’ll definitely recommend Art and Tommy. At some point down the road we’ll probably remodel our master bath, and I’ll definitely check with them.